Articles

Community Medical Centers and University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center (UCSF) have signed a formal Letter of Intent to significantly expand pediatric specialty care and the pediatric medical education program at Community hospitals and clinics.

As the only Level 1 trauma center in a 15,000-square-mile region, which sees an average of 800 pediatric trauma cases a year, Community Regional Medical Center is keenly interested in educating families on how to keep children out of the emergency room. Community serves in a leadership role for Safe Kids Central Valley, a childhood injury prevention coalition with member agencies from Fresno and Madera counties, including other hospitals.

Community Medical Centers provided more than $186 million in uncompensated services and programs in fiscal year 2013-14, equivalent to nearly 16% of its total expenses, according to the nonprofit hospital system’s annual community benefits report filed with the State of California.

If it wasn’t a broken bone or a sprained ankle, athletes were often encouraged to “shake it off” or “tough it out” and get back in the game. But that’s not the approach at Community Regional Medical Center where health professionals have partnered with others in the community to create a Concussion Consortium. Its goal: to educate local pediatricians and youth sports coaches about the signs and dangers of concussions – especially on developing brains.

Clovis Community Medical Center’s successful participation in a state pilot program with six hospitals has resulted in a new California law that now allows hospitals to become certified to perform certain elective, non-emergency cardiac catheterizations without having open heart surgery programs on site. For many patients that means avoiding significant travel for medical treatment while providing continuity of care with their local physicians.